It is well known that basketball players must spend a great deal of time practicing to become proficient in the game. Because of the large dimensions of the basketball court, however, much time is wasted chasing stray balls after they have passed through the basket. Such wasted time is particularly frustrating to an experienced ball player attempting to perfect his technique, since even a properly thrown ball will not return to him after it has passed through the net of the goal.
Prior art basketball return mechanisms have generally been in the form of passive devices which do no more than direct the ball to the general vicinity of the player. Such devices provide little improvement over having no return mechanism at all.